The Boyfriend Bet
Authors: Josie Eccles
The Boyfriend Bet
By
Josie Eccles
Text copyright © 2014
Josie Eccles
All Rights Reserved
Have you ever felt like your whole world had just
stopped spinning and every single part of your happiness had been prised away from
you in one moment? Humiliation, sadness and of course anger all came with it,
but as we all know that never ever changed a thing.
That’s exactly how I felt when I was totally humiliated
in front of the entire Year Eleven pupils. The funny thing is, I was so happy
at the start of that day - I had the best boyfriend ever and my friends were
insanely jealous. I had been this ecstatically happy since the day that Sam
Smith had asked me out. I couldn’t figure out just why he would want to go out
with me but I didn’t say no, far from it, I practically shrieked ‘yes!’ at him
when he asked me to go out with him nearly four months ago.
And Sam Smith, what can I say? He is absolutely gorgeous
- blonde hair, blue eyes and he oozes confidence. And I know it sounds shallow
but I enjoyed the envious looks from the other girls at school. I know they
used to say things like ‘Why the hell is he with her?’ and ‘How did she get
with him?’ but I didn’t care, it was like sticking two fingers up to all the
bitchy girls I’d endured through my previous, miserable years at school.
It was funny in a way, how seeing Sam had automatically
boosted my popularity and social status at school, not that this was something
I had particularly aimed for but I wasn’t going to shun it and I certainly
didn’t drop my friends. I had previously never been in the popular gang so to
say, but I didn’t belong in the geeky group either if that makes sense. I guess
I am just in the middle - boring, average me.
I remember that early October day as clearly as anything.
We had all filed into assembly as normal and I sat next to my two best mates
Sarah and Bex. Ok, I admit I was actually really excited about assembly for
once as the drama club were doing a scene from the ‘big’ performance the school
was soon to be putting on, a modern day twist of Romeo and Juliet – so we were
told! And Sam was in it and apparently he was very good (at drama). Come
to think of it now, he was the one who had actually said he was any good.
“I’m surprised you haven’t joined the drama club, you
could spend even more time with Sammy boy.” Sarah teased me as she was
smoothing down her long brunette ponytail over her shoulder.
“Hmmmm... no way, they always practise in front of the
school, embarrassing!” I nudged Sarah in the ribs with my elbow gently. I’m
always embarrassing myself at the best of times, so there was no way on this
earth I was going to attempt drama club. I can dance but I definitely cannot
act!
“Doesn’t stop you snogging the face off Sam outside
school, in front of everyone!” Bex added from the other side of me. I looked at
Bex with her super-styled, cropped, bleached blonde hair that suited not only
her tiny face and frame but also her so-sure attitude and personality, but at
least you could always rely on her to tell it as it is - a quality I admire. I
could hear Sarah sniggering in agreement and I had nothing to do but shrug and
admit defeat.
“Well who can blame me?” I shrugged my shoulders again
and had a huge cocky grin plastered across my face. And then we all got
shushed to be quiet as
my
gorgeous Sam was about to come on to the
stage. Ok, not just Sam but the whole of the drama club but I certainly would
only have eyes for Sam.
Mr Harrison (our very stupid and idiotic Head of Year)
was first on the stage, saying the usual crap. I vaguely remember him going on
about how our school life was like a race and we were now on the last leg and
nobody wanted to fall and give up on the final furlong. If anyone was going to
fall, I wished it would be him and off of the stage, ha!
“In about five minutes we will be lucky enough to see
just a snippet of the production Ms Marney and all the drama students have been
working on endlessly.” Mr Harrison said with way too much enthusiasm.
“You can say that again.” I muttered. They really had
been working on it endlessly. I had hardly seen Sam since...well since ‘that
Saturday’ about three weeks ago. ‘That Saturday’ a lot had happened and when I
say a lot I mean MAJOR stuff – like he told me he loved me and...and... Well,
we’ll get to that later.
“Now, I’ve seen some of the rehearsals and let me tell
you, they are absolutely amazing and I know the students will make our school
proud.” Mr Harrison was still enthusing. He was way too much sometimes. I swear
he’s on those happy pills, there’s no other way to explain it. I wished he
would just shut up so we could actually see the bloody performance. I
appreciate he had to stall for time as the drama students were preparing the
set (we could hear them dragging the props around), but it had been silent
behind the scenery for about five minutes now, so for goodness sake shut up
Harrison!
Mr Harrison was STILL babbling on when a few giggles
murmured around the hall and then I saw why - the scenery behind him (which was
supposed to be some sort of posh house) was wobbling and Mr Harrison was
totally oblivious.
Oh my god! The scenery was about to come crashing down
onto a very unsuspecting Mr Harrison! There was a massive intake of breath as
everyone realised the possible seriousness of the situation when...BANG! The
whole side of the fake house crashed to the floor. Luckily for Mr Harrison,
he’d just at that exact moment it’d started to fall, taken two steps forward
towards the front of the stage, completely unaware and narrowly missing what
could have been a major headache.
The whole hall erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter
as I just stared at the horror in front of me. It was now obvious what had
pushed the screen over. Sam was sprawled on the floor on top of some girl and
he actually had his hand up her top! Talk about being caught in the act!
Obviously they had been too busy, pressed up against the back of the scenery in
their throes of passion, by the looks of it!
I could vaguely hear the laughter, cheering and
whistling, escalating around me but it was like I wasn’t there, like everything
was in slow motion for me as I watched, never taking my eyes from Sam, he
quickly got to his feet and let out a sheepish grin. He briefly met my eye but
didn’t linger. And then I looked at the blonde bint that was now pulling
herself to her feet. I sucked in my breath as I recognised her immediately. I
felt sick, completely and utterly sick. There were no tears, no anger (yet),
just this awful feeling in the bottom of my stomach.
Even Mr Harrison was speechless as he watched the pair
sort of straighten themselves out. Then
she
looked at me, right in the
eye. You’d think there would be a hint of remorse, a slight twinge of guilt as
she had just been practically making out with the love of my life. But no, she
stared at me, never breaking eye contact and then to stick the knife in, she
smiled. A tear finally pricked my eye as she remained smirking at me, her hair
all dishevelled, standing next to Sam. My Sam! Only he isn’t mine anymore is
he?
And how could I compete with her – Ella Wallis? She was
always one of the most popular girls at school and now in Year Twelve she was
still the object of many of the boys’ fantasies. She is taller than me, with
longer and blonder hair and bigger boobs. Never mind that she is a complete and
utter bitch, it doesn’t matter, obviously. The worst part was that I couldn’t
run and I couldn’t hide. I couldn’t promise myself I would never see those two
again (the two people who had successfully ruined my life) because Ella Wallis
just happened to be my sister...
I’d had three weeks of complete misery and by no means is
that an exaggeration. I did not even get the tiniest apology from my sister,
far from it. I swear she just rubbed my nose in it. We had a blazing row,
obviously. She just sort of shrugged off my relationship with Sam as a mere
insignificance and said “It’s not as if you two were serious, was it?” I hadn’t
wasted the energy in informing her that I did in fact think it was, because
obviously Sam did not.
It’s bad enough when you hate someone with everything you
have that you uncharacteristically dream up awful scenarios and evil situations
that (hopefully) they might be exposed to, but when that person is your sister
and you have to not only live under the same roof as her but also share a room,
let me tell you it’s absolutely horrific.
People were very forthcoming at school as well. “You
didn’t expect someone like Sam to hang around with the likes of Charley Wallis
forever did you?” was what I overheard Zoe Ryan (debatably the most popular
girl in Year Eleven) purposely telling her ‘mates’ as I’d walked past. The
words ‘hung around with’ lingered in my mind all week as I wondered if I could
ever get over Sam Smith and this is why I had been amazingly grateful when the
first break off school finally arrived.
It was half term and the school holidays were nearly
over. It had poured with rain all week (as usual), and I was thoroughly bored
and had no desire what-so-ever to set foot in that bloody awful school again. I
was a complete laughing stock at school and I was even beginning to wonder what
the purpose of my miserable existence could be.
But then a miracle happened. I’d been lying on my bed
listening to the constant rain drumming on the window, Ella was out (with Sam
probably), Mum had taken Peter (our seven year old brother) to the cinema, and
I obviously had nothing to do. I was definitely depressed. I was just wondering
what the hell was good in my life and what exactly was the point of it all
anyway, when I heard a lot of commotion outside, so obviously curiosity got the
better of me and I got up to look.
The fittest boy I had ever seen was hanging around near
the very large moving van outside. He must have been about seventeen or maybe
eighteen, I couldn’t tell, but he was hot! He was tall with purposely messy,
dark hair. It was skimming his eyes at the front and he kept pushing it to the
side. He was looking around, probably wondering why he was moving to Astley
Street. We’ve lived here for as long as I can remember and it looked like it
was potentially going to get even more exciting!
It all happens on Astley Street, seriously. The stuff we
see/hear you wouldn’t believe. Nearly everyone down here is a prime candidate
for the Jeremy Kyle show, ha! I chuckled to myself until I realised that ‘My
sister stole my man’ could also feature very nicely on the show. I sighed as I
was reminded of my misery again, as I constantly was every single day.
I really must try and forget about Sam I reminded myself
and luckily for me I had a very welcome distraction. I watched some more as he
was entering the house next door armed with a large cardboard box - must have
been his dad following behind but who cares. Who was looking at him anyway? A
couple of minutes later he had returned to fetch more boxes, and then he only
went and looked up at my window, right at me...and then he smiled...at me! My
god, he was gorgeous and he smiled at me, that’s right ...ME! Shit, I can’t
remember if I smiled back or if I just stared at him like a crazed loon.
I watched his every move with a deliriously insane
grin plastered across my face. My eyes followed him walking up the garden path
and then he stopped just out of my view. I stood up and leant over the
windowsill to get a better look and then thud, I’d only gone and banged my head
on the bloody window. Ouch, It hurt like hell, I rubbed it furiously and then I
saw another boy also making his way up the garden path, he was laughing so much
he could hardly keep hold of his cardboard box and he was staring at me, oh
no... he was laughing at me. It must be the annoying brother, I decided, who
else could it be?
“Piss off,” I muttered under my breath. Great, I can’t
believe someone just witnessed that. So I had been getting carried away,
dreaming up incidents of how I could ‘accidently’ bump into the boy next door
when the other boy next door had practically witnessed me drooling over his
brother so intently that I’d forgotten there was a window right in front of my
face. Bloody great.
“What are you looking at?” Ella’s sharp voice made me
jump. I thought she’d gone out.
“Nothing,” I snapped back, without even looking at her.
The last thing I wanted was for her to see I had an interest in the new
neighbour.
“Freak!” Ella muttered as she rummaged around in her
wardrobe and then flounced off.
“Bitch.” I muttered under my breath, but I soon forgot
about her, as the hottie next door was back outside.
It must be a sign I told myself, because just at
the lowest point of my depression I’d witnessed the most gorgeous human-being I
had ever laid eyes on, enter the house next door. Yes, we were finally getting
new neighbours and one of them was extremely fit! I now realise my life has a
purpose! And the best part of it was that I wouldn’t even need to go out of my
way to stalk him - he was going to be living next door, thank you God!